Before President Trump publicly expressed his displeasure over ally Roger Stone's initial sentencing recommendation by Justice Department prosecutors, the president fumed over the decision not to charge former FBI head James Comey and his deputy Andrew McCabe. According to The Washington Post, Trump was enraged when lawyers didn't seek to build a case against Comey after Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz referred the former FBI director's handling of memos to prosecutors for potential possible criminal charges. “Can you [expletive] believe they didn’t charge him?” the president reportedly said, before continuing to discuss the decision for days. Another inspector general report concluded that McCabe lied to investigators about his role in authorizing disclosures to the media. While a D.C. grand jury was in place to make a decision on the case last year, no charges ended up being brought. Trump reportedly thought it was unacceptable that individuals like Comey and McCabe got away with no charges, when Stone and former national security adviser Michael Flynn were charged.

Attorney General William Barr has also asked U.S. Attorney John Durham, who had been investigating the origins of ex-Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into 2016 Russian interference, to look into whether the FBI and CIA committed any crimes while they probed the Russian meddling matter. The president has reportedly pushed for Durham's investigation to end quickly so that he can use the findings as part of his re-election campaign.